(3.5) How exactly do you plan/put together an adventure? This has been killing me.

[celestialkin]

I am hoping the experienced DMs can help me with this key issue.

You see, I have no idea how exactly one plans, sets up, etc a campaign.

Every once-in-a-while I get some inspiration that gives me an idea, which although not great, I wish I could plan into an adventure, or even a full-length campaign.

Usually the "inspiration" comes about as a few basic idea/scenes that I imagine taking place, sort of like cutscenes in a video game. However, I have no clue how to make a set adventure/campaign from this. Something I can type up, but in a binder, and keep around as a module of sorts.


For example, the following videos just now was my latest "inspiration":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LapknbGS7Os

The basic ideas/cutscenes I got from this:


There is a hidden valley in one of the continents I had already been working on.
Within this valley a group of adventures stumble upon a human small town, which has a very Transylvanian/Ravenloft feel to it. To their surprise it is a human town (humans are near extinction in my setting), which seems to be in prestine condition (most other human settlements are crumbling ruins).
Visible from the town is an old mansion/palace (see the video above), painted in brilliant white.
If asked the towns people say that an ancient being lives up there. Some say it is a witch, others say it is a vampire, some believ eit's a ghost, etc. Long story short, no one has actually seen it for generations.
The towns people strangely do not seem that scared of it, or the palace/mansion, though. However, they try to avoid the subject, and speek in a quieter voice when speaking of it or the owner.
It turns out that every once-in-a-while people start disappearing. It is usually only a handful per event, and never erupts into a full-blown pandemic. Usually these people just vanish (usually in the dead of night), but people have claimed to see them making their way to the above mentioned castle during the night, carrying their belongings.
It turns out there is a vampire up there, but one more powerful than the MM1 version, who has powers akin to the original dracula movies.
Throught the adventure I would be dropping nameless and one-shot NPCs everywhere, since I plan to have the vampire hiding among the townspeople (the youngest daughter of the tavern keeper, however in truth she altered the memories of the townspeople to believe that, even the "father"), but I don't want it to be as obvious as it usually is when you focus on an NPC which automatically gives it away that she is secretly important (there is a TV trope about this I believe).
I would need to figure out a hook to to tempt the PCs to dig deeper into this NPC, but not just give it away (anyone got an idea? I am totally stomped here). Perhaps have one of the "disappeared" victims be mysteriously spotted around the towns' records building/office, and it turns out the box of birth certificates are missing?
It will finally turn out that the vampire does draw them away She does so for A) Life-long servants to maintain her mansion/palace, serve her, and work some old mines close by to give her wealth, and B) To obviously maintain her young age and beauty.
However, the twist the PCs would find is that while she does take thralls from the town, she purposefully does not take more each generation than is needed, sometimes allowing herself to age for a while if the towns people had a calamity and their population was critically low 9however, she ages right back to young once feeding again). In addition, they (I am not sure how yet) discover that she has served as the towns protector for millenia without them even knowing, and it was her magic which isolated and sheltered the town from the last human wars. So basically she is a NN (with good tendencies) vampire.
So basically, the PCs have to decide between attempting to destroy her (which won't be an easy task, regardless of how beautiful and fragile she looks) and keeping her from "calling" more innocents, or letting things continue as they have.




Anyway sorry for the long rant up there.

So, can the experienced DMs here please give me some advice on how to take these random thoughts/ideas/scenes to the next step? Or just telling me what the next step is?


Thanks in advance for any and all help!

[Flickerdart]

Stat everything. Things you will have the PCs fight, things you will have the PCs join, things you expect them to run away from, things that are caught in the cross-fire. Give them all stats for when the PCs decide to kill everything in sight.

Don't plan everything out too much. Your PCs might just as easily decide that your Tomb of Horrors cameo isn't where they want to go, and camp outside to wait for the BBEG to come out, or flood the place, or something. Use time in between sessions to your advantage.

Plot hooks, subtle ones, are good. Don't force the players between parts of an adventure, you want them to be actively trying.

[Rhiannon87]

For campaigns, it's best to start broad. I get the sense that you're feeling overwhelmed by the idea of having to plan out each and every single encounter. But don't worry about that right now. You have a good, broad outline to start. Flesh out the town and major NPCs some more. (A good way to introduce the vampire and not make her stand out is to have the party get to know several major NPCs; she can just be one of them.) Get the world built first, then figure out how your players are going to interact with it and affect it.

Once you do get to that second part, the figuring out interaction, just take it one chunk at a time. There's the major overarching goal of dealing with the vampire, but there are smaller goals along the way. The party needs to accomplish smaller tasks (and sidequests!) before getting to the final thing. Plan things out one task at a time. That gives you the ability to be flexible if they do something really crazy, and it doesn't overwhelm you.

For the individual encounters, like combat... that's actually the part I find to be easiest and the most fun. The individual tasks should suggest or set up different combat scenarios; all you have to do then is just build the enemies that the party is facing. Figure out some tactics; if you've got someone who can help you play-test encounters, all the better.

The key is to do things in pieces. Don't try to plan out every little encounter months in advance, because odds are you might end up scraping half of them. Just do things a little bit at a time, and work with what the players are doing and what seems to interest them. Good luck!

[Quietus]

I'd work on the whys. Why is the village able to be found now? Why did this vampiress's magic fail? Why should the PCs even care?

I'd go off the angle of - the town DID have a recent calamity. In addition to growing older as a result of not feeding, so too did her spell weaken, which is why the PCs can find it now. Why should the PCs care? Because they just showed up, and now people are beginning to disappear.. and maybe the townsfolk blame them, or assume them in league with the mansion.


From there, work out a paragraph or so on each notable NPC. Any noteworthy retainers in the mansion, the vampiress herself, and anyone inside the town that will be important - I'd include a religious person/healer, a sage (if there is one), the head of the town, and a couple other random people. Then, develop interesting descriptions for two or three other random people, which you will use liberally as they travel. Probably also a good idea to have a paragraph or so on each of them, too, if they aren't already covered.

From there, just decide where you want to herd your cats... I mean, lead your players. And then have a couple different ways you can lead them. Figure out where you can drop the one end of that string, and then let the players loose and see where they go that you didn't plan. :smalltongue:

::Edit:: Keep in mind, the PCs are probably the only humans this town has seen that comes from outside the town's borders. This should be reflected in their attitudes toward them - some will be awestruck, some will want stories, some won't trust them, and some will find the allure of unknown, exotic people too hard to resist.

[jmbrown]

I have several steps I usually follow.

Step 1: Motivation. Where are the PCs, what are they doing, and why?

Setp 2: The hook. Something has happened within sight of the PCs. How can I get them interested in my event without the feeling that they're forced to get into it?

Step 3: The problem. I take the hook and evolve it into the problem the PCs must ultimately solve. This starts broad and then slowly whittles away into something specific.

Step 4: The path. I determine the logical path the PCs may take to solve the problem using the longest method possible. I say this because magic and good roleplaying can bypass a lot of planned surprises.

Step 5: The confrontation. I plan out every possible hostile and peaceful confrontation the PC's might encounter.

Step 6: The climax. I determine, based on the PC's backgrounds and alignment, the best possible ending to the current session. Are the PCs goodguys? Then they'll probably capture the big bad alive. Are they morally ambigious? Then they may kill the big bad outright or bribe something from him.

Putting It Together (an example)

Step 1: The PCs are old friends living in a small village and have known each other most of their lives. They're moderately skilled adventurers having explored the surroundings several times before (starting level 3).

One day the village elder never returns from his weekly pilgrimage to the temple on the hill. The PCs decide to ignore this as the elder has been known to wander off before, however, I introduce a mysterious messenger who arrives a day later that has summons for the elder from the king himself. The PCs, not wanting to anger their sovereign, suit up and find out what's going on.

Step 2: Along the road to the temple, they discover the elder's full backpack on the side of the road. This wouldn't normally be a problem if it wasn't for the fact that the staff was carefully hidden as if someone didn't want it to be found. When the PCs reach the temple, they're ambushed by bandits but easily route them.

The PCs are at a decision point. The bandits could be involved but if so why didn't they steal the backpack which was full of supplies? The PCs may pursue the bandit or continue their investigation into the wild. The PCs have a character with the track feat so they decide to follow the trail of the elder as he was returning to the village.

Step 3: The story behind this adventure is that the bandits settled into a cave nearby which happened to be occupied by a grey render. When the beast returned from a hunt, the bandits' finely crafted traps severely injured the beast and chased it away. The elder came across the grey render in his travels from the temple and nursed the creature back to health. He hid his backpack so no one could trail him back to his hiding place.

Step 4: The PCs use track to find the elder and sure enough they find him. The elder, being a naturalist (but untrained in healing), won't leave the grey render in a wounded state. The PCs could heal the render, take out the bandits, or force the elder back to the village. Because they're relatively good guys, they decide to heal the render.

Step 5: The only real confrontations in this adventure where the bandits near the temple and random wilderness encounters. However, because the PCs decided to stay and heal the render, I add it to the list of helpful NPCs. The PCs will ultimately help the grey render take back its cave. Most of the bandit's traps were broken when the render first stumbled into them so I take that into account when I build the final encounter.

Step 6: With the help of the grey render, the PCs successfully boot the bandits out of the caves and the elder returns to town unharmed. Because a grey render is a powerful monster, I added more bandits to the caves then initially planned (they reinforced themselves after losing to the PCs at the temple). Had the PCs went straight to the bandit caves then there would be less bandits but more traps.

The PCs are rewarded for their efforts as usual. The mysterious visiter turns out to be from the king's council. His message: the enemies of the kingdom are pushing through the land to the south and will arrive in the heartlands within the week. Evacuate your citizens and muster all able bodied warriors at the nearest keep.

BAM. Instant plot hook.

And yes, I just made that up off the top of my head as I was typing. The key to good adventure writing is improvisation because, like most people say, your players will always find clever ways around your designs. The most important and yet difficult aspect of a GM is flexibility and that only comes from practice.

[celestialkin]

Wow.

Thank you for the advice so far. It is a lot to process, and varying opinions/styles.

While I got time at the moment I guess I should ask more about some of the thing which most stand out in my mind.


Stat everything. Things you will have the PCs fight, things you will have the PCs join, things you expect them to run away from, things that are caught in the cross-fire. Give them all stats for when the PCs decide to kill everything in sight.

Don't plan everything out too much. Your PCs might just as easily decide that your Tomb of Horrors cameo isn't where they want to go, and camp outside to wait for the BBEG to come out, or flood the place, or something. Use time in between sessions to your advantage.

Do does two paragraphs contradict at all?

And I see your point about stating everything. Thankfully there are a few sites I can milk for this! However, how far down are we talking? Even say the major, or the "father" Inn Owner?

As for the not plan everything part, that seems to be a consensus so far. However, I am trying to imagine how that works. Is the point to simply be a DM who "wings it" completely?


Plot hooks, subtle ones, are good. Don't force the players between parts of an adventure, you want them to be actively trying.

Can you please give me some advice on how to do plot-hooks. I recently read the paragraph on it in my DMG, but what really is a plot-hook? And how can someone be subtle with them, since like that tv trope says due to limited time in media (tv shows half-an hour, gaming session a few hours) anything you mere describe or say is automatically part of the plat and usually important.




I get the sense that you're feeling overwhelmed by the idea of having to plan out each and every single encounter.

You know, I believe you're aware of something I wasn't. Overwhelm is probably what I have been feeling every time I try to plan something like this.

As someone with OCD I naturally try to prepare things in advance in complete detail, and it seems a bit alien to me to try and bring other people into a world/town/valley I created and envisioned, but not have it all mapped and planned. Sort of like in my head I see the surrounding mountains and the mansion/castle to the side, but everything in the center where the town should be is nothing but white space.




For campaigns, it's best to start broad. I get the sense that you're feeling overwhelmed by the idea of having to plan out each and every single encounter. But don't worry about that right now. You have a good, broad outline to start.

Understood.

But with the start broad concept are you meaning for the planning stage, or during the adventure/campaign itself?


Flesh out the town and major NPCs some more. (A good way to introduce the vampire and not make her stand out is to have the party get to know several major NPCs; she can just be one of them.) Get the world built first, then figure out how your players are going to interact with it and affect it.


OK, fleshing out and stating major NPCs is being said a lot.

As for the vampiress, does she have to fall under the town's major NPC's list? I was originally thinking of her not even interacting with the PCs at all, but in the background with the bartenders other (real) sisters. Just a brief mention here and there along with the others, and the bartender/inn owner occasionally bragging about them and trying to get them married. Is this being a bit too subtle? Am I taking away the PC's chance of "discovering" the secret?

I like world building/mapping, so I like the concept of doing that first. :smallbiggrin:



Once you do get to that second part, the figuring out interaction, just take it one chunk at a time. There's the major overarching goal of dealing with the vampire, but there are smaller goals along the way. The party needs to accomplish smaller tasks (and sidequests!) before getting to the final thing. Plan things out one task at a time. That gives you the ability to be flexible if they do something really crazy, and it doesn't overwhelm you.

The fact about smaller goals/smaller tasks, or sidequests did not even enter my mind. It never has before actually.

"Small" tasks I imagine would be things like tracking down items to help defeat the vampiress (I know it is a cliche example, but I can not think of any others)?

For "smaller goals", are those like mini-adventures I need to put into a bigger one? Or are they goals characters/players make for themselves?

And am I correct by assuming that the "Plan things out one task at a time. That gives you the ability to be flexible if they do something really crazy, and it doesn't overwhelm you." part is completely dependent on where the PCs/players leave off each gaming session?


For the individual encounters, like combat... that's actually the part I find to be easiest and the most fun. The individual tasks should suggest or set up different combat scenarios; all you have to do then is just build the enemies that the party is facing. Figure out some tactics; if you've got someone who can help you play-test encounters, all the better.

Again this goes back to the tasks part.





I'd work on the whys. Why is the village able to be found now? Why did this vampiress's magic fail? Why should the PCs even care?

Hmm...

Working on whys seems useful for brainstorming I guess. Although I am not sure in what part of the planning process it should be used.


As for the whys you mentioned above, I was thinking on the lines of:

Why is the village able to be found now? Why did this vampiress's magic fail?:
I guess my description of the vampiress's "protector" role was poor. I did not mean to imply that the town has been hidden in isolation for millenia.

What happened was that the vampiress hid the town from the vision of outsiders for the duration of the human wars, and the genocide of the survivors which followed by the savage races (orcs, minotaurs, and gnolls especially) and even some armies of a few dwarf clans and elf kingdoms. It has been around 80 years since then, so she let the veil dissolve.

While I used the word "protector" to describe the vampiress' role with the town, being NN [with good tendencies] she does not wish to control the free will of the people below her keep, nor does she see herself as their master or superior.

Why should the PCs even care?:
Again great question I had not considered. However, I like your take on that part.


From there, work out a paragraph or so on each notable NPC. Any noteworthy retainers in the mansion, the vampiress herself, and anyone inside the town that will be important - I'd include a religious person/healer, a sage (if there is one), the head of the town, and a couple other random people. Then, develop interesting descriptions for two or three other random people, which you will use liberally as they travel. Probably also a good idea to have a paragraph or so on each of them, too, if they aren't already covered.

Again stat up every NPC and write a page or paragraph on them. Will cearly do.


From there, just decide where you want to herd your cats... I mean, lead your players. And then have a couple different ways you can lead them. Figure out where you can drop the one end of that string, and then let the players loose and see where they go that you didn't plan. :smalltongue:

So is this how to work ploy "hooks"?

And I hear difference of opinion on whether to herd/railroad players, or not to. Different people have told me are either bad or good. I am very confused on this part.


::Edit:: Keep in mind, the PCs are probably the only humans this town has seen that comes from outside the town's borders. This should be reflected in their attitudes toward them - some will be awestruck, some will want stories, some won't trust them, and some will find the allure of unknown, exotic people too hard to resist.

Well, considering what I said above I imagine that every once-in-a-while outsiders do pop in. It would definitely be rare, though. Also, the players would not be likely to be human, but instead would be quite surprised to see a mint, healthy human community that knows nothing of the human wars and the genocide which followed.

[jmbrown]

And I hear difference of opinion on whether to herd/railroad players, or not to. Different people have told me are either bad or good. I am very confused on this part.

IMO railroading is only justified when the players are completely at a loss. Even then, you should never lead the players to the adventure you should drop clues to aid them. Once they arrive at the adventure site itself, you need a hook to get them interested. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink, basically.

A hook is anything that motivates one or more player characters to action.

Your mother has turned into a zombie is a plot hook. A boring plot hook, but a plot hook none the less.

Your mother has turned into a zombie and only the crazy hermit who lives on death mountain can concoct a potion to save her is a better plot hook. The characters don't need to know the necessary details of the hermit to be motivated to look for him. They may make a knowledge check DC 10 to know he's an accomplished alchemist; that's reason enough to start an adventure. A DC 20 check and a player will learn he's also a necromancer. All right, now the players have an excuse to kick down his door.

Or, the player could just kill his mother and continue on with the story. Improvisation is one of the biggest facets of being a DM. Expect the unexpected.

Mapping everything isn't important because you never know if the players will simply walk past it or remain in the area. Nobody cares how many streets there are in Bumbleton if the players are just spending the night. If they buy a house there and want to know how many villagers they can coerce to join their daring team of tomb raiders, then you can start mapping things out.

As far as creatures go, you never need to stat something unless you know as a DM it will appear in some kind of conflict. You don't need to know the stats of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum who get drunk at the bar and flee whenever a brawl breaks out. You should probably stat out Pug the Pugilist who fights anyone that burps too loud. The PCs may or may not burp in his presence, but the fact that conflict with him is a possibility means you should do yourself a favor and stat him out.

Finally, there are hook generators available all over the web (doesn't the DMG have a huge list of them or did Wizards remove it from the 3.5 edition?). If you don't feel like statting random NPCs then use the elite array of 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8 to generate quick and dirty NPCs. A level 1 thug will be a warrior with 15 strength, 14 constitution, and 13 dexterity with studded leather armor. His hp is 6 (Half max for a warrior which is 4 + his con modifier of 2), his to-hit is +3, and he wields a light mace dealing 1d6+2 damage.

There, I just made an NPC. Obviously higher level and spellcasters are much more difficult, but if I were you I'd create my own monster templates for spellcasters and stuff. You can assume a spellcaster of X level has access to X amount of spells in his spellbook and what not.

[HamHam]

And I hear difference of opinion on whether to herd/railroad players, or not to. Different people have told me are either bad or good. I am very confused on this part.

Like most things, it depends on the group. The difference between plot hooks and railroading is entirely about the reaction of the players. If the players feel like they have no choice and no control over what's going on, that's bad because it will not be a fun game for them. What exactly causes this kind of reaction is something you will have to learn as you interact with your players, though if you have played as a PC before thinking of things that DMs did that made you feel that way and avoiding that would be a good idea.

Some groups will be fine with no direction, and will make up goals for themselves and have a DM who is comfortable with improvising. Other groups will be happy to pick up obvious plot hooks and run with them. Others still simply want a dungeon they can go exploring in.

Mistake will be made. The best way to deal with them is to not be afraid to discuss some things OOC, imho. If either the players or the DM is dissatisfied with the way the game is going that will inevitably just lead to frustration if not dealt with. So you need to find a method that works for everyone.

[Typewriter]

I designed a world and a base plot that ended in the PCs becoming the deities of that world. The premise of that campaign was that they were supposed to become deities so I planned/designed the world around that.

After that, every campaign takes place in the same world I created for them, and I simply update everything in the world(not that obnoxious really, just update a few spreadsheets, wipe out some people from old age and add new ones - plus update the map/spreadsheets according to the players actions from the previous campaign.

Usually the 'next' campaign will simply be a result of the players actions in the previous campaign. It makes them involved, and keeps them interested in the story, as they know that their actions will have actual consequences.

Campaign 1 - Players thwart evil plot to overthrow deities and become deities themselves. One major villain escapes to a different plane.

Campaign 2 - One of the players from the previous campaign told me his god was a god of vengeance and that he was going to hunt down the escaping villain no matter what happened. The role his particular deity played was important, and with him 'missing' the deities were unable to have direct interaction with the world anymore. They didn't know why for a long time, but knowing the deities 'personally' made them really want to find out what was going on. Late in the campaign they wind up faced with having to choose between alerting the world to an invading army of undead or freeing themselves from a horrible curse. They chose remove curse.

Campaign 3(Our current one) - Because they didn't tell anyone about the undead they swarmed over the world, and they are characters in an army fighting back. They get to see ripples from their actions from the previous campaign everywhere in this one.

Campaign 4(Next campaign) - Cant say a whole lot in case any of them are reading it, but decisions they make at the end of the current campaign is going to cause a nice era of piece...with repercussions that will be felt during the timeframe of this campaign.

[Mystic Muse]

I made my campaign story and decided to just make things up from there.

[Knaight]

I usually wing things most of the time. If I do prepare at all its for a setting, not an adventure. Just make a setting, set it in motion on its own, with things that can happen good and bad, and forces in opposition. Then have the players tie their characters into it (you can just plop them down in it, but that isn't satisfying. They should know the setting decently before they make characters, and discuss things with you. Its not like their characters spontaneously came into being, with a few exceptions). Things happen, and those include things that the characters will care about.

There is the alternative of having people give the players missions, although I personally don't espouse it. A believable setting in motion generates plot hooks on its own. Sometimes they will be things that all the players naturally come together in, sometimes it isn't so clean, and interaction within the party happens. Maybe poor children are vanishing, and it appears a warlord is trying to make a secret army of things that were once human. The players are worried about siblings, children, friends with children, etc. They are angry at the guy, and get involved trying to take him down.

Other times their beliefs come into conflict. Two nations, both of which have some of the group born in them, go to war. There is no clear enemy, not to everyone. Some people support one faction, others the other. Its not clear what is going on, how this started, and what to do about it. Aiding one army or other is out of the question. But should the party try and pull their own families out of the situation? What if a family member intends to join the army? What about the refugees, are you going to help them? And what happens when the refugees of both countries come into contact? Can this war be ended peacefully, and can the PCs influence that? How important are peace keeping efforts relative to helping refugees? Should the war be kept as small as possible, keeping other countries from getting involved? What if they are coming to your side, which happens to contradict another party members?

The players have to deal with all of this. They might be able to have an impact, but they can't handle everything, and when they do one thing they aren't doing another to help. Beliefs come into contact, tensions run high. Everyone has a muddied view of what is happening, and thus how to help. The scenes you envision may happen, or they may not, but they help you know how the world works, and what is currently happening.

My settings come from a few scenes I imagine that stick with me, inspired by some source or other. Celestialkin, I have the exact same process as you for getting to a campaign, I just take it further. Sometimes things come together well, with big epic campaigns everyone remembers. Sometimes things fall apart. Its a high risk, high reward to play. A dungeon crawl is not going to crash and burn like these games can do when things go south. But they aren't going to reach the heights these games can.

The key is to experiment, staying ambitious, pushing your boundaries, while not totally blowing by them. Then you just have to recognize when things go south and cut the games early.

I don't play 3.5, so I can improvise stats. What I would recommend is having a few general stat bases, that are then tweaked. You have stats that apply for guards in general, but every guard is a little different, and there are regional patterns.

[AslanCross]

I started my first campaign from scratch. Now since my players were all beginners and all of them were part of my creative writing club at school, they were more concerned about a narrative than "I want to do whatever I want" players.

In any case, I started with the general idea of what the first adventure would be like:
-Reasons and background. Why is this going on? Who is affected? Why should this adventure hook the adventurers?

-Setting. Now depending on the group, you put together a map. Some players prefer completely cinematic adventures and combat, while others prefer miniatures and an actual map. I prefer the latter, so I drew up the location on a sheet of graph paper for reference when I draw the inch grid for actual combat.

-Plot villains: Do they already appear in the adventure? Or are they faceless villains? What makes them memorable?

-Creatures the villains may be employing: What sensible creatures can be included? Why are they there?

It might also be relevant to trace the sequence of events in the order that the PCs are most expected to trigger them. This isn't always necessary, especially since the PCs are free to wander around the location, but certain "scripted" events happen when the PCs trigger them.

The result wasn't the best thing ever. I made a lot of mistakes and it got boring in some parts. I do suggest you look up the original free adventures on WOTC's site and try to use the format at least.

[celestialkin]

I have several steps I usually follow.

Step 1: Motivation. Where are the PCs, what are they doing, and why?

Setp 2: The hook. Something has happened within sight of the PCs. How can I get them interested in my event without the feeling that they're forced to get into it?

Step 3: The problem. I take the hook and evolve it into the problem the PCs must ultimately solve. This starts broad and then slowly whittles away into something specific.

Step 4: The path. I determine the logical path the PCs may take to solve the problem using the longest method possible. I say this because magic and good roleplaying can bypass a lot of planned surprises.

Step 5: The confrontation. I plan out every possible hostile and peaceful confrontation the PC's might encounter.

Step 6: The climax. I determine, based on the PC's backgrounds and alignment, the best possible ending to the current session. Are the PCs goodguys? Then they'll probably capture the big bad alive. Are they morally ambigious? Then they may kill the big bad outright or bribe something from him.

Putting It Together (an example)

Step 1: The PCs are old friends living in a small village and have known each other most of their lives. They're moderately skilled adventurers having explored the surroundings several times before (starting level 3).

One day the village elder never returns from his weekly pilgrimage to the temple on the hill. The PCs decide to ignore this as the elder has been known to wander off before, however, I introduce a mysterious messenger who arrives a day later that has summons for the elder from the king himself. The PCs, not wanting to anger their sovereign, suit up and find out what's going on.

Step 2: Along the road to the temple, they discover the elder's full backpack on the side of the road. This wouldn't normally be a problem if it wasn't for the fact that the staff was carefully hidden as if someone didn't want it to be found. When the PCs reach the temple, they're ambushed by bandits but easily route them.

The PCs are at a decision point. The bandits could be involved but if so why didn't they steal the backpack which was full of supplies? The PCs may pursue the bandit or continue their investigation into the wild. The PCs have a character with the track feat so they decide to follow the trail of the elder as he was returning to the village.

Step 3: The story behind this adventure is that the bandits settled into a cave nearby which happened to be occupied by a grey render. When the beast returned from a hunt, the bandits' finely crafted traps severely injured the beast and chased it away. The elder came across the grey render in his travels from the temple and nursed the creature back to health. He hid his backpack so no one could trail him back to his hiding place.

Step 4: The PCs use track to find the elder and sure enough they find him. The elder, being a naturalist (but untrained in healing), won't leave the grey render in a wounded state. The PCs could heal the render, take out the bandits, or force the elder back to the village. Because they're relatively good guys, they decide to heal the render.

Step 5: The only real confrontations in this adventure where the bandits near the temple and random wilderness encounters. However, because the PCs decided to stay and heal the render, I add it to the list of helpful NPCs. The PCs will ultimately help the grey render take back its cave. Most of the bandit's traps were broken when the render first stumbled into them so I take that into account when I build the final encounter.

Step 6: With the help of the grey render, the PCs successfully boot the bandits out of the caves and the elder returns to town unharmed. Because a grey render is a powerful monster, I added more bandits to the caves then initially planned (they reinforced themselves after losing to the PCs at the temple). Had the PCs went straight to the bandit caves then there would be less bandits but more traps.

The PCs are rewarded for their efforts as usual. The mysterious visiter turns out to be from the king's council. His message: the enemies of the kingdom are pushing through the land to the south and will arrive in the heartlands within the week. Evacuate your citizens and muster all able bodied warriors at the nearest keep.

BAM. Instant plot hook.

And yes, I just made that up off the top of my head as I was typing. The key to good adventure writing is improvisation because, like most people say, your players will always find clever ways around your designs. The most important and yet difficult aspect of a GM is flexibility and that only comes from practice.

Thank you for the detailed example of how to start a plot hook/adventure.

I will certainly try it the next time I get a chance to DM!





IMO railroading is only justified when the players are completely at a loss. Even then, you should never lead the players to the adventure you should drop clues to aid them. Once they arrive at the adventure site itself, you need a hook to get them interested. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink, basically.


Like most things, it depends on the group. The difference between plot hooks and railroading is entirely about the reaction of the players. If the players feel like they have no choice and no control over what's going on, that's bad because it will not be a fun game for them. What exactly causes this kind of reaction is something you will have to learn as you interact with your players, though if you have played as a PC before thinking of things that DMs did that made you feel that way and avoiding that would be a good idea.

Some groups will be fine with no direction, and will make up goals for themselves and have a DM who is comfortable with improvising. Other groups will be happy to pick up obvious plot hooks and run with them. Others still simply want a dungeon they can go exploring in.

Mistake will be made. The best way to deal with them is to not be afraid to discuss some things OOC, imho. If either the players or the DM is dissatisfied with the way the game is going that will inevitably just lead to frustration if not dealt with. So you need to find a method that works for everyone.

I see.

Thank you both. While I do not like the idea of forcing players into a direction, I believe HamHam is right about the fact that some players/groups like/prefer it, and some just want to hack-and-slash in a nameless dungeon with a nameless BBEG at the end. Although I would prefer the later players, I should be flexible to accommodate them if I end up playing with them.





I designed a world and a base plot that ended in the PCs becoming the deities of that world. The premise of that campaign was that they were supposed to become deities so I planned/designed the world around that.

After that, every campaign takes place in the same world I created for them, and I simply update everything in the world(not that obnoxious really, just update a few spreadsheets, wipe out some people from old age and add new ones - plus update the map/spreadsheets according to the players actions from the previous campaign.

Usually the 'next' campaign will simply be a result of the players actions in the previous campaign. It makes them involved, and keeps them interested in the story, as they know that their actions will have actual consequences.

Campaign 1 - Players thwart evil plot to overthrow deities and become deities themselves. One major villain escapes to a different plane.

Campaign 2 - One of the players from the previous campaign told me his god was a god of vengeance and that he was going to hunt down the escaping villain no matter what happened. The role his particular deity played was important, and with him 'missing' the deities were unable to have direct interaction with the world anymore. They didn't know why for a long time, but knowing the deities 'personally' made them really want to find out what was going on. Late in the campaign they wind up faced with having to choose between alerting the world to an invading army of undead or freeing themselves from a horrible curse. They chose remove curse.

Campaign 3(Our current one) - Because they didn't tell anyone about the undead they swarmed over the world, and they are characters in an army fighting back. They get to see ripples from their actions from the previous campaign everywhere in this one.

Campaign 4(Next campaign) - Cant say a whole lot in case any of them are reading it, but decisions they make at the end of the current campaign is going to cause a nice era of piece...with repercussions that will be felt during the timeframe of this campaign.

Thank you for telling that story and explaining how your world is based on the actions of your group's previous party's action. I love that idea, and I hope to be able to pull it off in a smaller way (aka not always world-wide effected) in my sandbox world.





My settings come from a few scenes I imagine that stick with me, inspired by some source or other. Celestialkin, I have the exact same process as you for getting to a campaign, I just take it further. Sometimes things come together well, with big epic campaigns everyone remembers. Sometimes things fall apart. Its a high risk, high reward to play. A dungeon crawl is not going to crash and burn like these games can do when things go south. But they aren't going to reach the heights these games can.

The key is to experiment, staying ambitious, pushing your boundaries, while not totally blowing by them. Then you just have to recognize when things go south and cut the games early.

Dude, I find it amazing that you use the same process I do (which I never thought anyone would), and are actually quite successful and winging it. Even down to the just making a setting part (like my homebrewed world).

I am going to print your post and hang it up on my D&D book shelf.

However, as a new DM I am worried of the "High Risk" part you described, but I guess I just have to suck it up and deal with a lot of mistakes until I can master such a DMing style.


Although, I still want to get a lot more into the setting/world building part. And I want to try to mix this style with Typewriters above, and yet Rhiannon makes some great points, and I like Quietus's "working on the whys" trick. Basically, so much good advice and methods have been presented here, and yet I now know that an experienced DM has mastered my method of creating/DMing/whatever to an art. So confusing, yet so much helping advice. I guess I will just try the different methods, mix them up, try keeping to my very basic method to perfect it like Knaight, or the previous and mix in some of the ones before it. Eventually I'll hopefully figure out a method/system that works! :smallsmile:

[Lord Loss]

I work out a theme. for instance my current campaign is about a goblin pirate lord who is trying to summon an elder evil worshipped by the Aboleths. His patrons are abolrths.

So first I ask myslef.

''What Kinds of Minions would he have?''

Goblins

Abberations

Skum

''What would his base look like''

Draw it.

Place dudes and traps thematically throughout Adventurer locale.

Now, make hoks that draw the PCs into the base.

For instance:

Rumor is that a Goblin lord in league with the aboleths (This will draw the druid, by duty to protect nature, and Anorix the shadowcaster, who's parents were lost in the far realm). He is very rich, so has the power to hire many minions (very rich gets the barabrian in). The rogue has been enlisted by the king to reduce his time in jail.

[Cyrion]

A variation and reinforcement of things that have already been said- pay attention to your players. After the first adventure (or sooner if your players give you good character backgrounds) or two you'll have an idea of what motivates your players. Build a plot hook around one or more of these things- rumors of treasure for the greedy, downtrodden to be saved for the righteous, that cool toy for the collector, etc. Then you'll be able to plan an adventure that your players are pretty sure to take without feeling railroaded. Be ready to do some improvising, because they'll always look for a way to do things differently than you planned.

[valadil]

I never sit down and plan an adventure all at once. I write down my ideas (or someone else's ideas with my own stylings more often than not) in a notebook or in my google documents. I do this all the time. Once a year I look through the ideas. If I notice a common theme or setting, I gather up all the ideas that work within that context and call it a game.

I draw up each idea into a scenario. Some are lengthy and can occupy several sessions of game time. Others are cute little five minute non sequitors. Once I've written them out I find similar NPCs and merge them together. You end up with this nice web of plot. There's usually a master or questgiver role in there and that person is touching almost every plot in the game.

(Sidenote on organization. I finally ran a game that had more plots than I could keep in my head, so organizing them became really really important. Here's how I did it. I put eah NPC on a note card. Note cards were color coordinated according to the group the NPC belonged to. Depending on your setting this may not be necessary. One side of the card was name/personality (with charicature keywords to remind me how to act) the other side was stats (if I expected them to matter). Each plot in the game was summarized at the back of my notebook. The plots got a paragraph to start with. Plots were checked off as they were put in motion. Each time the session updated a plot, I'd add a sentence explaining what happened. Most plots were 1 page long, but a few needed 2 pages. Each plot also got a colored label (http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.room6.com/images/mmg_dots.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.room6.com/index.php%3Fmain_page%3Dproduct_info%26cPath%3D142 _146%26products_id%3D2263&h=296&w=328&sz=29&tbnid=4HY0wSeGi8Z59M:&tbnh=106&tbnw=118&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddot%2Bsticker&usg=__rmjUlIoZMVh5zX95Sms8p_eDI8o=&ei=p4VkSorVC4-OMbPe6PcB&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=7&ct=image). All the NPCs that were in that plot had that label attached to the side of their card. This let me look at a plot and almost immediately grab all the NPC cards relevant to that plot. This level of organization is not necessary for most games, but if you're doing something big with lots of plots in parallel, it becomes necessary.)

Anyway, once I have my plots and NPCs done I tell players I'm ready to run a game. I require back stories from everyone. The reward for a background story is you get more plot. I give the players a lot of freedom in what they write here. Really though I'm doing this because I'm fishing for plot hooks. After I read the backstories I go through them again and highlight every possible plot hook. Then I see if any of the NPCs involved in those plot hooks match with any of the NPCs I've already written up. If they do, I merge them into the same character. If I'm lucky, several PCs will have the same NPC from their background.

Finally I come up with an opening session and just go with it. If I have the free time, I'll give each player an individual prelude to get into the plot. If I don't, it'll be a little more contrived. I don't like doing main plot anymore. Instead I throw all my plots out there and see what the players attach themselves to, and call that the main plot.

[Drogorn]

I mostly wing my sessions as well. I set up an overarching plot, and then add places and people. When you create people instead of action, the sessions are easy to improvise. You can simply ask yourself "What would this person do in this situation?" and go from there. Any major NPC has a goal of some sort. After setting up the NPCs, your planning can be as simple as this: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dczqff3g_73d8xdc6dx

In several cases, I came up with improvised enhancements to the encounters, like adding a nest of eggs to the basilisk encounter(which led to incredible amounts of fun and laughter when the eggs they stole started to hatch). Since the planning is not rigid, it's very easy to do.

Also, take advantage of the various character, monster, and cavern generators available. I'll post the ones I use when I get home.

[axraelshelm]

Take one major plot, then have a starting point.
Where do you want this story to go?
Are your players interested in this story?
Which one of your players would take charge to further the story? move it along?
Is this monster your placing here make sense?

Plot hooks are easy insert old guy, map, old/odd Item, a family member, ect that helps to further your story.

Example PC'S finds a dead man that has a old scroll on his person, the scroll is a spell that the party doesn't reconise so they find someone that does know it and it turns out to be?...plot hook.

This is a very simple formula interjected at the beginning of novels to spur the protaganist along and they find out more and more about the world and plot.

my 2 coppers.

[Another_Poet]

You've got a brilliant campaign idea there. I would start out witn an outline of the possible plot arc, showing the beginning and the possible endings (what you have here is the middle). Don't get too caught up in the endings of course because it should ultimately be up to the PCs.

For example, here is a possible outline.

PLOT HOOKS:
-There is a small monument outside the town church that is dedicated to "all who have disappeared." An old lady is laying flowers on it when the PCs enter town. She tells them to leave her be, because she is mourning her husband who was abducted. [the "if you have a good-aligned party" hook]
-At the bar that night, one of the townspeople tells an old legend of a [super valuable item of your choice] that is supposedly guarded by the keeper of the castle. [The "if your PCs are as greedy as mine" hook.]
-One of the townspeople asks the PCs to investigate. [The "if your players are dense as bricks" hook.]

FIRST LEG: the PCs approach the castle, with some spooky NPCs and/or random encounters on the way. They reach the castle but the talking door refuses to open. It turns out it can counterspell anything they throw at it and gives the rogue a thrashing if he tries to pick the lock. He hints that unless the master of the castle is at home, the gate cannot be opened. If the PCs scale the walls they can fight some gargoyles and maybe find some loot but they still can't access the main keep - there is no door except the talking one up front.

SECOND LEG: the PCs look for the master of the castle, following up on clues as to where he/she/it could be and what he/she/it is. They find out it's the innkeeper's "daughter" and confront her.

THE CLASSIC BOSS BATTLE: They fight her, she manages to escape near the end (if they kill her anyway, don't sweat... she could either regenerate, or actually be dead and sklip to "IF THE PCs DESTROY HER" below.)

THIRD LEG: the PCs track her down, fight her minions, and manage to catch up to her.

THE BIG REVEAL: It is either shown through clues, or she outright tells them, that she is actually the town's protector. This might be more believable if the place she has taken refuge in is some holy place, like an old mountain shrine around a holy well or something. Extra points if the ghosts of her abductees are there to back up her story.

IF THE PCs DESTROY HER, they unherit her job. They are now the masters of the castle BUT some elder evil they know little about is out to get them, and to destroy this rare surviving settlement of humans.

IF THE PCS LET HER LIVE, she tells them of the elder evil. She says alone she is not strong enough to destroy it, and can only do her best to protect the town... but with their help...

THE FINAL LEG: The PCs, with or without the vampire, must now fight the elder evil. If they killed the vampire they must fight a defensive war and hold the valley/castle. If they have the vampire with them she can lead them to its lair to make a first strike.

EPIC UBER-BOSS BATTLE, and everyone is happy.

That is just the way I would spin it. I think adding a bigger, worse evil is a great way to make the vampire both a sympathetic character and a pivotal plot point at the same time. The point is that morally ambiguous decisions can be fun, but are a bad way to end a campaign because they don't feel heroic. So killing or sparing the vampire should not be the last thing the PCs do - it should be the beginning of the buildup to the final climax.

I have to say, wonderful idea you have there. I love it.

[BRC]

Some general advice I picked up while DMing

1) Give them Problems, Not Solutions: Or, give them Options. With some exceptions, it should not be assumed that the PC's are going to do any one thing. For example, at one point in my campaign, the PC's needed to get a document from a heavily guarded compound. I spent hours plotting out a system for sneaking into the compound at night. I had Guard rotations, which guards had dogs, how long it would take for reinforcements to arrive once the alarm was sounded, ect.


The game rolls around, and the PC's walk right through the front door in disguise, then have lunch with the Duke.
2) When in doubt, let the PC's do it: What is fun, the PC's killing a dragon, what isn't fun, the PC's watching somebody kill a dragon. If you must have a DMPC, let one of the PC's control it.
Example: Same campaign as above, the PC's need to take out a really powerful insane druid who has kidnapped the local shaman. My origional plan was to have them free the shaman, who summons a Zeitgeist (Spirit of a city, from Cityscape) to smack down the Druid. Instead, I decided to have her boost each of the PC's in a manner thematically appropriate to each of the city districts (Bard got boosted with the rich person district. All his stuff became temporarily +5, and he got to summon guards. Fighter got the industrial district, got +6 strength and the ability to summon warforged, ect)
3) PROPS! Nothing spices a game up like some props. Even just printouts of documents the PC's may run into. In my campaign, I was very fond of giving the PC's coded messages to decipher, and at one point when they were hunting down a criminal, I made up a record sheet detailing his crimes and known associates. One of those associates, thrown on the sheet randomly, became a major character in the campaign.
4) Never plan more than one session in advance: If you make three sessions all at once, you're going to have to throw out two of them. You can have a general plot, but don't get specific until you see what the PC's did last time. This only applies if you are doing a continuous plot campaign, as opposed to a "Bunch of unrelated adventures strung together" campaign.

[Drogorn]

I use these to cut down on my prep time:

Name generator: http://dicelog.com/yafnagen
Encounter Calculator: http://www.penpaperpixel.org/tools/d20encountercalculator.htm
Various generators: http://seventhsanctum.com/
Useful for rapidly advancing monsters that aren't srd: http://pifro.com/dnd/NEW/nyu.php
3.5 npc generator: http://www.myth-weavers.com/generate_npc.php?do=npcgen
Quickly add classes to npcs: http://www.dinglesgames.com/tools/MonsterGenerator/dnd35/
Advance srd monsters: http://www.monsteradvancer.com/
Generate nifty caverns: http://www.gozzys.com/article.php?cm_id=11

[Raum]

Working on whys seems useful for brainstorming I guess. Although I am not sure in what part of the planning process it should be used. You need to know up to three things for each NPC: goals, personality, and resources. (Resources include combat skills / ability if that NPC is likely to be in combat.) Asking 'why' is a good method for you to detail goals and even personality. Then add the resources you think they 'need' while remembering not to give them all the resources they need. (If they have everything, they don't have much in the way of goals beyond simple survival.)


And I hear difference of opinion on whether to herd/railroad players, or not to. Different people have told me are either bad or good. I am very confused on this part. The answer is really very simple - don't railroad any more (or less) than the players are comfortable with. Of course simple things are often hard to accomplish exactly. :smallwink:
-----

Some advice on keeping NPC 'statting' manageable: divide NPCs up into three general categories - 1) Likely to face the PCs in combat. 2) Likely to interact with the PCs beyond simple combat. 3) Unlikely to interact with PCs for the next few sessions. Category 1 needs combat stats & equipment detailed.
Category 2 needs personality, goals, and (perhaps) resources detailed. Resources are needed if the PCs may want to acquire (whether purchase or theft) them, they're not needed if the PCs will only be talking with the NPC.
Category 3 needs goals and resources detailed if they're major NPCs who may affect the future course of the game. If not, they don't need to be detailed until you're preparing for some future session where they've moved into a different category.

Looking back at your village, I see a few immediate questions which will help flesh it out.
- First the antagonist - why is the vampiress protecting (and feeding off) this village? Does she have relatives / descendents here? If so, do they know of her? Or of legends of some remote ancestress? Does she have any friends in her tavern keeper's daughter persona? What about as a vampire? What resources does she have available? What goals does she have other than survival? What vulnerabilities? Is there anything she'd sacrifice herself for? What limitations are there on her control of villagers' thoughts? How many villagers does she normally need per week (or whatever interval)? Remember, an obvious pattern will get more attention than random disappearances - use that to get the PC's attention! How does she choose her victims? Have they offended her? Harmed the village? Harmed whoever / whatever she's protecting? Or is it simply chance?
- Then move on to those interacting with her on a regular basis - tavernkeeper, his wife, their kids, tavern staff, regulars in the tavern, suppliers (brewer, merchants, farmers, etc). What are their goals? Personalities? Don't be shy about handing some of your villagers conflicting goals either, conflicts (whether fights, arguments, petty backstabbing, theft, outright betrayal, or simply trying to convince a newcomer PC to agree with them) are good ways to engage the PCs and make the village more real. 'Everyoneishappyland' is not only unrealistic, it's boring. So add conflict.
- Now you know what the inhabitants are like, what is the environment like? What resources are available? Any hazards? Unique areas? Obstacles? This should be thought through for all areas the PCs are likely to interact with - valley, castle, village, tavern, and even the outhouse. :smallbiggrin:

Some general advice based on your scenario:
- Once the PCs arrive only people they've interacted with should 'disappear' so make sure they interact with some prospective victims.
- Unless you want her killed with little thought, create some semi-obvious threat which she protects the village from. This shouldn't be something the PCs can easily fight unless you want them to head off and attack it.

Some general things to avoid:
- Don't allow yourself any 'the PCs must...' preconceptions. Except, of course, in situations where they're comfortable being railroaded. This includes items, information, solutions, confrontations, conflict outcomes, paths, etc.
- Don't try and think of 'everything' up front. Leave yourself areas for growth.
- Don't think of NPCs (and, to a lesser degree, locations) as static. Unless they're dead they can change. And in D&D, even the dead can change. :smallwink: